Top 5 players from the 80's

who are your top 5 players from the 80's in terms of talent that they displayed THEN. (minus Gretzky and Lemieux) ?

who are your top 5 players from the 80's in terms of talent that they displayed THEN. (minus Gretzky and Lemieux) ?
Stastny has to be up there.

In no particular order:

Messier
Bourque
Langway
Stastny
Kurri

1. Bossy 2. Stastney 3. Kurri 4. Hawerchuk 5. Coffey

Kurri
Stastny
Bourque
Bossy
Hawerchuk

Though I've no doubt forgotten some obvious candidates, these are the five off the top of my head.

EDIT: Spares: Yzerman, Coffey, Savard

1. Bossy 2. Stastney 3. Kurri 4. Hawerchuk 5. Coffey

That's almost as perfect as you can get it. One guy everyone forgets is Denis Savard. Maybe not in the top 5 but as far as talent goes he did that spinorama time after time after time.

gretzky...

messier...

coffey...

kurri...

anderson...

sorry about using gretzky but i didnt want to break up the set :p

Bossy
Bourque
Kurri
Coffey
Mike Gartner :eek:

That's almost as perfect as you can get it. One guy everyone forgets is Denis Savard. Maybe not in the top 5 but as far as talent goes he did that spinorama time after time after time.Yeah, Savard was pretty awsome. He scored so many awsome goals but the one that stands out to me was when he danced around all 5 Oilers and beat the goalie. IMO that is the greatest goal ever scored. (Importance not counting.)

1. Bossy
2. Stastny
3. Coffey
4. Messier-His playoff play and stats as a 2nd line centre were more impressive than some team's 1st line centres
5. D. Savard
Close, but not quite: Hawerchuk, Bourque, Goulet, Dionne (70s was more his time), Kurri, Yzerman (had more of an impact come the 90s).

Dino Ciccarelli
Dale Hawerchuk
Peter Stastny
Jari Kurri
Paul Coffey

Bossy
Hawerchuk
Stastny
Savard
Yzerman
Coffey


Sorry, I had to have 6, because none of these deserve to be left off a list like this.

If I was building a team from the 80s and I couldn't take Gretzky I'd take

1. Scott Stevens
2. Ray Bourque
3. Mario
4. Pat LaFontaine
5. Messier

Mike Gartner

please tell me you're joking :cry:


1. Wayne Gretzky
2. Ray Bourque
3. Mark Messier
4. Paul Coffey
5. Mike Bossy

I chose players based on their dominance solely during the decade of the 80s. Gretzky should be everyone's #1. If he isn't, then your list is not credible. There were no real dominant goalies in the 80s who didn't die in a car crash. Hull, Lemieux and Yzerman came in partway through the decade. Bossy, Potvin, and Trottier were dominant at the beginning of the 80s but not throughout. Stastny accumulated a lot of points, but so did Gartner. I wouldn't call either of them as dominant as Messier or Bossy.

Potvin, Trottier, Stastny, Lemieux, Yzerman, Kurri, Fuhr, Savard were on the cusp.

please tell me you're joking :cry:


1. Wayne Gretzky
2. Ray Bourque
3. Mark Messier
4. Paul Coffey
5. Mike Bossy

I chose players based on their dominance solely during the decade of the 80s. Gretzky should be everyone's #1. If he isn't, then your list is not credible. There were no real dominant goalies in the 80s who didn't die in a car crash. Hull, Lemieux and Yzerman came in partway through the decade. Bossy, Potvin, and Trottier were dominant at the beginning of the 80s but not throughout. Stastny accumulated a lot of points, but so did Gartner. I wouldn't call either of them as dominant as Messier or Bossy.

Potvin, Trottier, Stastny, Lemieux, Yzerman, Kurri, Fuhr, Savard were on the cusp.
The first post says that you can't use Gretzky or Lemieux. My goalies alone would be 1. Fuhr 2. Smith 3. Roy 4. Vernon 5. Hextall

D. Hawerchuk (never had a line mate)
M. Dionne (Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmers were his best line mates)
P. Stastny (he had his brothers, also Goulet, but he had all the skills)
D. Savard (He WAS the Hawks)
R. Bourque (also great in the 90's and 00's... simply Bourque)

But then there's...

S. Yzerman (he was better overall in the 90's)
M. Messier (also arguably better in the early 90's, also had no Gretzky)
J. Kurri (Played on a line with Wayne)
P. Coffey (On PP with Wayne alone added 30 pts a year to stats)
M. Bossy (He should probably be above, but he DID have Trottier who could easily be on this list)

No FUHR??? He's one of my favs...

Dino, Dino, Dino!!!!!!!!!!1 :yo:

D. Hawerchuk (never had a line mate)
M. Dionne (Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmers were his best line mates)
P. Stastny (he had his brothers, also Goulet, but he had all the skills)
D. Savard (He WAS the Hawks)
R. Bourque (also great in the 90's and 00's... simply Bourque)

But then there's...

S. Yzerman (he was better overall in the 90's)
M. Messier (also arguably better in the early 90's, also had no Gretzky)
J. Kurri (Played on a line with Wayne)
P. Coffey (On PP with Wayne alone added 30 pts a year to stats)
M. Bossy (He should probably be above, but he DID have Trottier who could easily be on this list)

so that still leaves about 110 point seasons he has to be there

Here's my $.02.

G- Fuhr

D- Bourque
Langway

F- Kurri
Savard (going by the original premise of leaving Gretzky and Lemieux out)
Stastny

Bossy
Messier
Bourque
D. Potvin
Steve Yzerman

Bourque :bruins
Messier :edmonton
Bossy :isles
Savard :hawks
Hawerchuk

Bossy
Kurry
Stasny
Patrick Roy
Bob Gainey

Dale Hunter should be somewhere in the top 10, maybe cracking the top 5.

1. Gretzky (is there any doubt?)
2. Bossy (only player to score 50+ goals every year of his career)
3. Lemieux (broke Gretzky's streak of Hart trophies)
4. Savard (amazing to watch)
5. Messier (overshadowed by Gretzky for most of decade)

Most overrated:

Kurri (Gretzky carried this guy throughout his career)

Underrated:

Hawerchuk (great player on a bad Jets team)

Most overrated:

Kurri (Gretzky carried this guy throughout his career)


Last season with Gretzky: 80.43+53=96
First season without Gretzky: 76.44+58=102

Apparently, there were better 'Kurri carriers' in Edmonton than Wayne. And that's ignoring the fact that Kurri took care of Gretzky's defensive duties as well.

Last season with Gretzky: 80.43+53=96
First season without Gretzky: 76.44+58=102

Apparently, there were better 'Kurri carriers' in Edmonton than Wayne. And that's ignoring the fact that Kurri took care of Gretzky's defensive duties as well.

Just look at the last 5 years he spent in the NHL without Wayne Gretzky. I think he averaged around 40 points per season. Most overrated player in history, IMO.

who are your top 5 players from the 80's in terms of talent that they displayed THEN. (minus Gretzky and Lemieux) ?

Mark Messier
Mike Bossy
Paul Coffey
Ray Bourque
Guy Carbonneau

Just look at the last 5 years he spent in the NHL without Wayne Gretzky. I think he averaged around 40 points per season. Most overrated player in history, IMO.

OK. Kurri's last (and only) NHL seasons without Gretzky:

1988-89......76.44+58=102
1989-90......78.33+60=93
1995-96......14.1+4=5 (also 57 games for the Kings)
1996-97......82.13+22=35
1997-98 .....70.5+17=22

He also scored 27+60=87 points in 1992-93 when Gretzky was injured for nearly half a season. Interestingly enough, that happened to be Kurri's best year as an LA King.

Clearly less surprising is the fact that without Gretzky, Kurri's assist totals were far superior to his goal totals.

My top five (in order)

1 – Mike Bossy
2 – Mark Messier
3 – Peter Stastny
4 – Paul Coffey
5 – Jari Kurri

An honourable mention goes to Bryan Trottier, who was an outstanding two way center, especially early in the decade.

Regarding Kurri – his point totals were obviously aided by playing with Gretzky. However he would have been an all-star on most other teams, though probably not as often. An under-rated aspect of Kurri’s game was his attention to the defensive aspect. He wasn’t a power forward obviously, but like Trottier, very responsible defensively.

Mike Rogers had some really really good years before fizzing out in the mid eighties. I would put him somewhere in the top 30.